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Smasher

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"The Smasher" is a strip that ran in The Dandy from 1957, drawn by Hugh Morren. Its title character looks rather like Dennis the Menace, but in contrast to that character much of the destruction he causes is through clumsiness rather than maliciousness.its worth 35

Smasher began as a half-page strip inside the comic with red and black as the only colours. In these early appearances, Smasher's hair was coloured red. Later in the 1950s he was moved to the back cover of The Dandy and was extended to a full page. As the back cover was printed in only three colours (blue, yellow and black) until 1960, Smasher's hair was coloured black from this point on. Smasher was later moved back inside the comic, once again coloured in red and black. The back cover spot was assumed by Ali Ha-Ha and the 40 Thieves.

When Hugh Morren retired in 1982, art duties were taken over by David Gudgeon, who closely followed Morren's design. By 1987, however, the strip was being drawn by Brian Walker, who revamped Smasher's design drastically, giving him a more teenage appearance. It was around this time where Smasher became less of an anti-authority figure who delighted in breaking things to a more accident prone character (Similar to the Whizzer and Chips character Wear 'em out Wilf). The Smasher continued up until 2004, though by this point his appearances had become less frequent. Although never making a full-fledged return to the weekly Dandy, Smasher returned in the final print edition, drawn by Lew Stringer. He has also appeared in the Dandy annuals from the 2013 edition onwards, also drawn by Stringer.

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